MULI BWANJI

In Zambia you are normaly greeted by saying " muli bwanji" which means, how are you?
You would then reply with 'bwino" meaning good or fine. I love the African language, and hope to learn alot more on this next trip there.
Today was our first official Africa 2012 meeting with the SCRUBS group. we will be traveling with a group of 13. There has been some change in my trip the past few weeks. Everything in my life is always last minute. Anyone who knows me well enough knows this!
So i had purchased my ticket with the Scrubs group, planing on july 17th into August 17th. However, after alot of prayer and talking back and forth with the Luwizhi's, the missionary family there, I have decided to stay on another month. So after many phone calls and emails with my so very helpful travel agent Julie, I will be returning home september 17th.
Two months in Zambia Africa. This will be a journey! and i am so excited to go. only 3 weeks left.
The team i will be working with is so fun, loving and supportive of eachother. After only have met them all this one time at the meeting today, i feel like iv known some of them for years. We all get along and share our compassion for Gods love of people and this beautiful country.
As these short weeks go by i will need alot of prayer, for packing, money support, and strength to leave my life i am so used to here and get out of my comfort zone a little and move across the world for two months.
I am so thankful for my loving family who has and will always support me through this. for my parents who make this possible and have given me such encouragement and strength.
I am one blessed girl.

ONE month!

I have come to the conclusion that i need my own computer so that i can post pictures on here and it wont just be my blaa boring writing all the time ;)
Today is June 17 ( happy fathers day) and in exactly one month from today i will be on my way back to Zambia. Its weird that its been about a year since i was there last. I am thrilled to be going back. Not only to see old friends and continue the work there, but God just keeps putting situations and people along my path who i know will have a huge impact on this trip and My life.

 To be completely honest, when i left Zambia last year i wasn't planning on going back. I went to school, got Medical Assistant certified, graduated, moved out.. moved on with life. There were times when i didn't understand why i was where i was, doing what i was doing. BUT one thing i have learned through this past year of being on my own is that God will place you where HE wants you and he will make it Very clear to you. After that, its up to you to listen and follow or to stay put. At the beginning of this year i had no intension of going back to Africa. But i know that the things that have come up in my life recently and the opportunities God has simply handed me. I would be a complete idiot to pass up. Not to mention miss out on whatever it is thats in store here.
This whole planning of this trip has been a twisted mess. And its amazing to see how its all coming together. It started with me going with my church group, to then being disappointed when that fell through. But still God had plans because he placed SCRUBS in my path and now im going with them for a longer period of time.
I was speaking with Samantha Luwizhi last night. She is the wife of Vincent whom is a missionary in Zambia who we do our work with. She is living in Van for now with her 3 daughters until mid July. She was telling me about a friend of hers named Julie who is from Australia, who will be coming with her to Zambia and living there to prepare to start a premature baby home for the babies and young mothers. Julie has an organization called Zoe's Hope. (www.zoeshope.org)
It was started in Australia and she is now trying to plant one in India as well as Zambia Africa. She will be living with Vincent and Samantha until they find the money to finance a building for Zoe's hope housing.
soo.. I dont know what all that will hold but it is definitely something that is on my heart and i will need prayers for. So excited for this amazing journey and im ready to leave already!
ONE more month :)

AFRICA 2012
After alot of change, prayer, and planning, i will be returning to Zambia this summer!
 God has closed some doors these past few weeks with the group i did my travels with last year. Due to finances and lack of people the First baptist Van group fell through and came to conclusion that the money we have been raising would better benefit going to Africa alone than helping pay for plane tickets and other expenses to get us there. However, and this is how i know God is moving in this mission.. The team i worked with while in Peru a few summers ago was already planning a trip to the same villiage and working with the same people. They are a non profit medical mission team called SCRUBS http://www.scrubsmedicalmission.org/. This is also a blessing, seeing that i have some experience now in the medical field.
We will be working with an African doctor and while providing medical help will also give education to the children of the community there. I am beyond excited to be going back and visiting this beautiful country. i will be staying a month and plan to keep an update on my travels.
Im not sure what my plans are to do after Africa. But i have NO doubt in God he will provide.
He has been so good to me, and though i do not deserve this he has chosen Me to help on this misson to Africa.
Please continue to pray for the planning of this mission and for the people we will come in contact with. That we will not only help impact their lives with God's love, but that they will have an impact on ours.

A change in the making

I'm still learning this blog thing. At the moment I am without a computer, sO.. To catch you up on what has been going on in my life in the past few months, I got 2 jobs, one full time and the other waitressing nights and weekends. I moved into my own place with my dog, keeping up my little apartment and busy schedule has been a crazy ride, lost some people I cared about along the way through being busy and getting on with my life, but people can't and won't stick around forever, sadly enough.

So now I have a good paying steady job and I place of my own, finally growing up and having things work out and.... .. I want to give it all up.

I don't want to be the girl who stays in the small town with everything in my "normal" little life. I want something different. I've always kinda known that, it just took me trying out the "normal" to come to conclusion it wasn't what makes me happy. So I'm giving it all up.

And yes, I know how reciculous and dumb this all sounds. Iv been in my apartment for a total of 3 months, my job for 2. And I'm already changing things again.
BUT, when God lays something on your heart you have two choices, 1: drop everything and follow him  2: ignore it and miss out on what He has for your life.
Today is sunday, exactly ONE WEEK until my little sister gets married. im so very excited for her :)
I also have my second meeting today for going back to Africa this summer.
Things are still uncertain with the whens and wheres, but i have no doubt it will all work out. God has been so clear to me with this part of my life and im thankful for that. It gives me a peace of mind that though i may not be certain of details, i am exactly where he wants me. and i love that.
 Things are changing, God is moving.. and i am looking forward to what is NEXT.  ~ change in the making~ 

Africa trip 7/2011

It is officially 2012!! I had a great time bringing in the new year with friends and making memories :)

This past year i achieved alot of goals, experienced alot of things, trials and journeys God put me through. I grew Alot in my faith and in my relationship with God. im so thankful for that.

One thing i did this past year was visit Zambia, Africa with a mission team from my church. While there we worked with a community near Lusaka called the "grips community" a very poor and struggling group of people. We shared the gospel, worked with the children through bible school ministries and while there we helped the locals build a school there in the community to help better the education. It was an amazing experience.

So, this year, 2012.. we are going back. This time with a bigger group that plans to accomplish more than last time. There is an orphanage there we visited last year that really touched our hearts. a total of 8 or 9 kids who live there and the school which is the size of a small American living room, holding a total of around 50-60 children each day from the orphanage and the village surrounding. Our goal is to raise money to help these children with education and a safe and stable environment to live.

The Lord has opened so many doors through all of this, and i am so blessed to be a part of it. The plan of now is to leave the end of June and stay for 2 weeks. Hoping to reach goals and reach the people there with God's word. After visiting there once, part of my heart is there with these people. People who have nothing, who sleep on dirt floors and houses made of sticks and mud. People who are attacked with disease and watch loved ones die daily. People who have little food of which they grow themselves and slave to provide for their families.

These people are Happy, filled with joy and Hope. They arent told they need material things to find happiness. They understand the hardness of life and love, and find joy in 
little things. They are so greatful, and giving.
Going to Africa opened my eyes to alot of things, to Love, happiness, and true Faith. I am anxious to go back and see friends and do God's work, and share His love with people who share theirs!

Mark 16:15

12/21/2011

Its been a while since i posted anything. I graduated from medical assistant school this past week and now find myself with way too much free time. In that free time i have been stressing a little over what the next chapter in my life will be. I have been in Tyler Texas my whole life.. its home. But iv never felt like i really belong here. My heart has always been to go experience life and create my life according to wherever God takes me. One of my favorite songs is by Chris Tomlin, "Here am i, all of me, Take my life its all for Thee".. Ive had so many thoughts go through my head in the past few weeks of places i could go, or stay where im comfortable and have people that i love. My life is so good and easy here in Tyler. But i dont think i want easy..

So today has just been filled with God moving and working things out. It started this morning on my way to work i was thinking of what il be doing next year, and debating on moving or staying.. this and that. So like a typical girl i txt my best friend and asked her to be honest with me if she thought i should move or not. her reply was.. "i would miss and and i honestly dont want you to move, but part of me thinks it would be good for you. and sometimes i feel like Tyler is holding you back.." She was right. im just so scared to make a move and do something without knowing how it will turn out or being alone. I prayed about it alot..

Then tonight around 9:30 someone knocked on my door.. Kim Tunnell (the lady who led our mission team to Africa this july) and her husband came in and she sat me down to tell me that the zambia government has given "us" 430 acres of land and wants us to build missions and places to teach the people and help the country and communities to grow and learn to provide for themselves. now i dont know all the details and who all "us" is containing. but this is BIG NEWS!

First, for the governement to even give that much property, and then out of everyone known.. to give it to some people from Van texas.

The lease would be for 99 years and the land is all over parts of zambia. It would take alot of work and money to clear the land, build stuctures, ect.. But it is an amazing opportunity that could be a huge success if handled correctly.

God has plans for this, and i have no doubt that i am part of it. Kim went on to tell me that they are planning on going back this coming summer for another mission trip and for me to pray about this opportunity and follow what God lays on my heart. After all the prayers ive sent up to God about helping me decide my future He sure is moving fast and making things clear to me. I will continue to pray and see where this leads. God is so good and NEVER fails to amaze me and bless me, though i deserve nothing.

Nothing like encouragement

One of my favorite things is getting those random texts from friends that just lifts your day up and reminds you of whats important and that you are loved!
I got this in a txt this morning from a friend and strangly not knowing what was on my mind or anything from my past the quote she sent filled the exact place where i have been struggling and an answer to alot of things iv been praying about recently. so iwant to share it, hoping it helps someone else's spirit as much as it did mine :)

"A strange thing happens to the heart when its hurt. It actually grows back together stronger and with More Love- for itself and for others. What keeps us trapped is NOT our ability or desire to be loved, What holds us back is the story we tell ourselves about the pain we've experienced in the past."